Thursday, February 1, 2018

It turns out Rebekah Martinez is not missing at all. Quite the contrary, actually, she's on a popular nationally televised show: The Bachelor, which you might have heard of.

When posting this week's cover story to Facebook, we asked if any of our readers recognized any of the 35 people currently listed as missing from Humboldt County on the California Department of Justice's website. Astute readers said, yes, they definitely did and pointed to Martinez, who appears to be a burgeoning reality television star. (Hat tip to you, Amy Bonner O'Brien!)

After some googling returned some Instagram images that appeared very similar to Martinez's photo on the missing persons page, we reached out to the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office. That prompted an email from Public Information Officer Samantha Karges to the deputy who initially took Martinez's missing persons report, noting the similarity in images and asking if Martinez was still listed as missing.

Ten minutes later, the deputy emailed Karges back: "I just got off the phone with Rebekah. She is in fact the same person. She has been removed from (the Missing and Unidentified Persons Unit)."

Responding to some follow up questions, Karges told the Journal via email that Martinez was reported missing at 1:06 a.m. on Nov. 18 by her mother. “Martinez had reportedly come to Humboldt County to work on a marijuana farm. Her mother hadn’t heard from her since Nov. 12, 2017,” Karges wrote.

There's not a lot of information on the Attorney General's website. It just says Martinez was last seen Nov. 12, 2017, and the case is being investigated by the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office. It's interesting to note that Martinez has been active on Instagram throughout the time she was reported as missing. She posted Sept. 17 to tell followers she was "giving up" her phone and social media for several weeks, but she started posting again Nov. 23, some 11 days after she was apparently reported missing. It's also worth noting that there are lots of similarities between Martinez's profile on the Bachelor website, which went up Jan. 1, and her missing persons report on the AG's website.

The Attorney General's Office

Rebekah Martinez

So it appears Martinez is doing fine, and our Humboldt 35 is down to 33. (We reported yesterday about a call we received from an avid North Coast Journal reader who was shocked to find his name on this week's cover.)

To see more of Martinez, tune into The Bachelor Mondays at 8 p.m. on ABC.

Editor's note: This story was updated from a previous version to include additional information. Find a full update to this story here.

A Spanish man who worked as a professional mountain climber and guide remains missing in Eastern Humboldt. Ivan Liñan Cano, 31, was reportedly struggling with mental health issues and paranoia on Nov. 28 when he attacked the friend who was driving a car in which he was a passenger on State Route 36 near Carlotta. The pair had apparently tried and failed to find mental health help for Liñan Cano in Eureka, according to a report on Redheaded Blackbelt. After an altercation, Liñan Cano left the vehicle and ran off into the woods. He has not been seen since.

According to an official report sent to the Journal from Liñan Cano's nephew, Norberto Ibanez Liñan, the men had been working at a cannabis cultivation site near Mad River in Trinity County. Liñan Cano's behavior prior to the episode was "strange," according to the report, and was exacerbated after he smoked marijuana and tried LSD.

Law enforcement searched for Liñan Cano for four days in the Swimmer's Delight area, where his friend saw him run into the woods. They also followed up on leads that Liñan Cano had checked into a hotel near Garberville with no success. Family members in Spain recently hired Humboldt private investigator Chris Cook to investigate his disappearance. Norberto Liñan calls the situation "very difficult and desperate."

According to Melva Paris, records manager for the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office, Liñan's name does not appear on the California Attorney General's list of missing persons as he is not believed to have been a victim of homicide. The Journal has been attempting to figure out what the standards are for a missing person to appear on the Attorney General's database, as not all of the cases on the site involve suspected homicides. Attempts to reach a public information officer at the AG's office have proved unsuccessful but we will update this post if we receive more information. For more about the challenges of investigating missing persons cases in Humboldt County and the possible reason for our very high number of reports, check out this week's cover story and additional reporting by Kym Kemp on Redheaded Blackbelt.